Wrangling the Redhead - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,72
He wanted to see for himself the woman she’d kept from him. Watching her face light up the screen, listening to her voice, he’d been as captivated as he’d once been by the real woman. It was little wonder that she had legions of fans, little wonder that she hadn’t been able to turn her back on all of that for the life he could have offered her.
Not that he’d given her a chance to say no, he admitted grudgingly. Because he’d known what the answer would be. No way could what he was offering stack up to the millions she was making in Hollywood or the adoration of thousands of fans. He had a hard time admitting it was pride that had made him leave town without confronting her, but that was the truth of the matter. The pitiful fact was that he would have forgiven her betrayal in a heartbeat if he’d thought for one single second that they stood even a small chance of making it.
When the phone in his cheap motel room rang, he stared at it. “What the hell?” No one knew where he was. No one who mattered, anyway. With the kind of pickup work he was doing these days, he answered to no one. Nobody kept track of his whereabouts.
His mental dismissal didn’t seem to stop the ringing. It went on and on until he finally yanked up the receiver just to stop the noise.
“Yeah, what?”
“Gracious as ever, I see,” Grady Blackhawk said.
Wade was stunned. He’d deliberately not gotten in touch with Grady because he’d feared the other man would reveal his location to Lauren. Stubborn as she was, she might come after him out of some sense of obligation, and he knew that he didn’t have the strength to resist her if she did. Maybe in a few months he would, but not yet.
“What the hell do you want?” he asked curtly.
“I want you to come back.”
“Not an option,” Wade said.
“Lauren’s gone.”
“So what?” he asked, though for some reason his heart ached at the news. She had gone back to Hollywood, after all, just as he’d predicted.
It didn’t surprise him. That sudden trip she’d taken to Los Angeles had clearly been the handwriting on the wall. The lark was over. Once she was back in the spotlight, evidently she’d decided it suited her better than a ranch in Wyoming.
“Thought it might make it easier for you to say yes, if you knew that,” Grady said, as if he’d been dangling a tasty carrot in front of Midnight.
“It doesn’t matter,” Wade lied.
“Can’t face the memories?” Grady inquired, hitting the nail on the head. “Maybe that should tell you something.”
“All it tells me is that I made the worst mistake of my life when I thought I’d be enough for her. In fact, she’s probably enjoying herself back in Hollywood now, laughing over her brief romance with a small-town cowboy. It’ll make a great anecdote for her next TV interview.”
He’d caught one of those interviews on the night he’d first left town. She’d looked so gorgeous, so composed and glamorous, he’d simply stared at the screen, fascinated and sick at heart.
“Lauren would never demean what the two of you shared that way,” Grady chided. “And if you weren’t being an idiot, you’d know that. She loved you.”
“Let’s not even go there,” Wade warned. “If I’m even going to consider what you’re asking, we have to agree that the topic of Lauren is off limits.”
“Fine. Whatever,” Grady retorted. “Just don’t let your damn stubbornness and pride keep you from doing what you know you want to do. I’ve got a job with your name on it. Come back, Wade.”
Then the sneaky, conniving, son of a bitch added, “The baby’s due soon. We really need all the extra help around here we can get.”
Wade felt the knot in his stomach ease. He’d been looking forward to the baby’s arrival almost as much as Grady and his grandfather, Thomas Blackhawk, had. The news had been a turning point for Wade. It had kicked off the start of his own dreams for the future.
“Your grandfather must be over the moon by now. Is he driving you crazy?” he asked.
“He’s been hovering the last couple of weeks. He thinks the whole thing was all his idea. I might have to fight him to get to be in the delivery room,” Grady confirmed. “So, anyway, you can see that Karen’s going to be out of commission for a while. Help